This week's premieres
photo: SPI International |
Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights (Hriešny tanec 2) - Romance by Guy Ferland. In 1987 a little movie called Dirty Dancing came out. Starring an extremely lithe Patrick Swayze and a young, just-ripe Jennifer Grey as a pair of star-crossed lovers who also happened to be dancing fools, it caused a sensation, spurring people to ask, "My, could it be any hotter?" Well, it could if it were actually set in Cuba during the revolution and if the romance was interracial. And wouldn't it be even hotter if Swayze was actually Diego Luna (Y Tu Mama Tambien) and Grey was actually Romola Garai?
Other movies playing
photo: Continental Film |
Anything Else (Čokoľvek) - Romantic comedy by Woody Allen. Allen's latest ode to neurotic New Yorkers stars Jason Biggs of the American Pie movies as Jerry, a young comedy writer whose talent seems threatened by the people who surround him. His agent (Danny Devito) is inept, his mentor (Allen) is losing his mind, his girlfriend (Christina Ricci) has intense intimacy issues, and her mother (Stockard Channing) decides to move in with the young couple to follow her dream of becoming a cabaret singer. Add one more hangup to Jerry's battle for success: Allen has made a string of mediocre movies. Here's hoping he comes out on top.
photo: SPI International |
Duplex (Tú starú treba zabiť!) - Comedy by Danny Devito. Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore play Alex and Nancy, a young couple who seem to have found their dream apartment in Manhattan. It soon becomes apparent, however, that their elderly upstairs neighbour, Mrs. Connolly, will prove to be a chronic nuisance. Because she won't willingly move elsewhere, Alex and Nancy begin thinking of other, more sinister ways to get rid of her.
photo: Itafilm |
50 First Dates (50x a stále po prvý raz) - Romantic comedy by Peter Segal. Though it starts out looking like another typically juvenile Adam Sandler movie, 50 First Dates is actually an incredibly sweet, yet subtly perverse, romantic comedy. This is largely thanks to Drew Barrymore, whose bubbly presence not only gives life to her character, but to Sandler's as well.
photo: Itafilm |
Spider-Man 2 - Action by Sam Raimi. While the first movie was about an awkward kid turning outward as he discovers his new superpowers, this one's about a superhero losing control of these powers and then turning back inward. More driven by character than special effects, it's relatively restrained and ambitious for a comic book movie. It doesn't all work, but Raimi keeps it fun and stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst keep it emotionally centred.
photo: Saturn Entertainment. |
King Arthur (Kráľ Artuš) - Action by Antoine Fuqua. Though it masquerades as the untold "true story" of the legendary King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, it's nothing more than a particularly boring Jerry Bruckheimer movie, which means it's big and dumb. Stars Clive Owen and Keira Knightley are no help at all. The only hope comes in the form of Stellen Skarsgard, who brings some spirit to his role as a drunken, homicidal warlord.
photo: Saturn Entertainment. |
The Ladykillers (Päť lupičov a stará dáma) - Comedy by Joel and Ethan Coen. For their first co-directed effort (Joel usually directs while Ethan produces), the Coen brothers remake the classic 1955 British comedy starring Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers. In the Coen version, verbose Southern gentleman Goldthwait Higginson Dorr (Tom Hanks) convinces the pious Marva Munson (Irma P Hall) to rent him her basement so that he can practice with his medieval music ensemble. What she doesn't realise is that the "ensemble" is actually the crew he's assembled to rob a riverboat casino and their practices are actually planning sessions for the heist. Many critics have called the film "disposable" by Coen standards, but that's also a claim levelled against their previous film, the vastly underrated Intolerable Cruelty.
photo: Continental Film |
The Human Stain (Ľudská škvrna) - Drama by Robert Benton. Anthony Hopkins stars as Coleman Silk, a revered college professor in New England who suddenly finds himself surrounded by controversy. First, he makes some comments about some African-American students that are misinterpreted as racist. Then, his affair with a married janitor (Nicole Kidman) is revealed. During this turmoil, Silk must prevent biographer Nathan Zuckerman (Gary Sinise) from discovering a dark secret from his past.
Prepared by Jonathan Knapp
